


First Date

by lknopeswyatt (certifiablemess)



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 02:24:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11198487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/certifiablemess/pseuds/lknopeswyatt
Summary: Leslie asks Ben about their first date. Set the weekend between Road Trip and The Bubble, because you just know they had a weekend hideaway.





	First Date

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd because it's 2am and i had to finish this and get the story out of my head and posted so that i can hardcore study for a final next week, so sorry for any mistakes that i may or may not get around to fixing up.
> 
> super fluffy early benslie. shoutout to leslie's house for being on the show once but always being the go-to hideaway place in fics.
> 
> enjoy!

     'What would you say was our first date?' Leslie asks, leaning into Ben's chest.

After he kissed her in his office, Ben and Leslie went back to her house (in separate cars, because of Chris's super strict rule which, honestly, gets Leslie going even more). Her house wasn't as cluttered as usual with only a few dozen stacks of archived newspapers on the couches, several boxes of As Seen On TV products here and there, and two large bags filled with emergency party supplies because surprise parties work both for the recipient and the party-thrower. In any case, Leslie has been cutting back on the hoarding. Thank God for that because Cute Butt Ben kissed her and he's coming over, oh my God, this is really happening!

It's been five days since their midday-getaway and they have snuck out on several dinner dates in Eagleton -- the food is as snobby as the people but, damn it, if it isn't delicious -- and Ben, more often than not, ends up staying the night when they both fall asleep to documentaries on the History Channel. The bubble is beautiful.

This morning, Ben surprised Leslie with JJ's waffles in bed and they spent the afternoon lounging on her couch, binge-watching Planet Earth ('Yes!' Ben punched the air when Leslie held up the DVD 'David Attenborough just gets it, you know?'). He shuddered when the Ice Worlds episode played but, apart from that, this has been the best distraction from the weight of their situation.

They're somewhere in the middle of the Jungles episode when David Attenborough talks about mating calls of tree frogs, which gets Leslie thinking about her first date with Ben. Did they even have a first date? Did it count as a date if they were being blindly platonic?

     'Our first date?' Ben repeats, his fingers twirling her hair. Her head rests on his chest and he hears her mind running a mile a minute. 'I'd say 10 a.m. beers.'  
     '10 a.m. beers?' Leslie asks, tilting her head to look at him. 'From your first week in Pawnee?'  
     Ben nods, smirking, eyes never leaving the tree frogs. 'Yeah, after you yelled at me. On three separate occasions. Right after we first met.'

Leslie knows he's teasing; she hears it in his voice and sees it from his arched eyebrow. He's messing around. But 10 a.m. beers? Is he serious? That really wasn't one of Leslie's best moments, or even one of her best days. She was hungover, and still reeling from the lack of a master plan, and, if she was being honest, Ben was the last person she wanted to see that day, much less go on a first date with. She isn't even good on first dates! Oh God, if Ben really considered that to be their first date, it's a miracle they're snuggled together on the couch right now. It's a miracle he didn't just fire her on-the-spot - and she brought up his teen years?! Who drags that stuff to the surface on a _first date_ , much less something as traumatising as Ice Town-- 

     'Yeah, you know, that might have been the best first date I've ever been on.'

Oh.

     'Oh?' Ben asks, pausing the documentary. Apparently she had said that out loud.

He brushes the fringe off her face so his eyes can search hers, and Leslie feels little bubbles bursting in her chest. His eyes are so brown, and so much sweeter than any chocolate she's ever had. God, she would jump his bones right now if she weren't in the middle of an important investigation.

     'I mean...oh, really? The best?' Leslie asks, eyebrows raised because there is no way that could be true, and if he thinks it's true then they are thinking of two very different situations. Then again, she was pretty hungover.

     Ben shrugs with his free shoulder, running a hand through her curls. 'Yeah, I mean, that was the most relaxed I'd felt in months. Nobody knew about Ice Town yet, except for Chris, and it felt like I was dragging this dirty little secret around.'

His brows are furrowed, the corners of his lips tugged down. He starts twirling her hair again, his expression softening as he watches the golden strands spin around his fingers. She smiles, silently encouraging him even if he won't -- or can't -- look at her right now.

     'But then I told you and you had the complete opposite reaction that I'm used to.' He stops twirling and looks into her eyes again. He smiles, releasing a little chuckle. 'You already knew the story before I told you which was weirdly comforting, knowing that you'd probably already laughed it off way back when, but you didn't make me feel like crap about it. Pretty great first date, if you ask me.' 

Ben knows she's super giddy; he sees it from the crinkled corners of her eyes and he feels it from the intensifying warmth of her body against his. Most people give tight-lipped smiles when they're feigning politeness, but not Leslie Knope. She gives tight-lipped smiles when she is overjoyed and excited and, right now, very, very giddy. He has half a mind to tell her to let herself grin, because when she smiles wide, pink lips baring white teeth, it's like a hot shower on a cold winter's day and the most perfect beach day you could ever imagine.

Instead, he kisses her and feels her smile against his lips which, honestly, feels even better than any metaphor could ever describe. He kisses her, cupping her cheek and tightening the arm around her waist, and pulls her closer. She kisses back with a little moan, disguised as a giggle, that sends shivers down his neck.

     In between little pecks, Leslie teases, 'I bet you talk about Ice Town on all of your first dates.'  
     Ben shakes his head, smiling. 'Oh yeah, women love hearing about failed teen mayoral runs that resulted in city-wide bankruptcy.'

He dives right in again.

     'I bet it really gets their motors going.' Leslie says, giggling when his breath tickles her neck.  
     'Not as much as it gets you going, Ms. Knope,' Ben growls, tickling her sides for more of her giggles. He moves them so that she's laying back on the couch, his body covering hers, before meeting her lips with his once more.

Leslie runs her hand through his unruly hair, holding him closer. She sighs as he pulls away, giggling when he drops his head into the crook of her neck to hide his grin. When he looks up at her again, he's smiling and if he isn't the most adorable man ever then she has some calls to make. No one is cuter than Ben Wyatt with mussed up hair, and his melting-brownie eyes, and his lop-sided smile.

     'Honestly, Les, that might've been the best first date of my entire life.' He says, seriously now, because he knows her mind is still thirsting for answers. Leslie Knope is nothing if not thorough in all aspects of her life, even when defining their first date.

Leslie presses her lips together as tightly as she can and nods, because yes! She had her first date with Cute Butt Ben and a) she didn't even realise it because she honestly kind of hated him at the time and b) they're super making out right now so whatever she said or did that day must have worked! Win-win! 

     'Well, the best _date_ of your life is soon to come. And soon to be surpassed by the next one. And the next. And the next, and the next, and the next, and-- you get the point, the best is yet to come.' Leslie says, a grin breaking out anyway when Ben chuckles and nods an 'okay'. She pulls him down for a kiss and abruptly pulls away with wide eyes, adding, 'If you want to keep this going, that is.'  
     'Of course, yes,' Ben bobbles his head, grinning, and pulls them together again, swallowing Leslie's breathless 'good, me too'.

  
It's in that moment that Leslie realises that Fascist Hardass Ben is really just Cute Butt Ben. All it took for her to figure it out was a couple of beers and a road trip.


End file.
